QUIZ: Warning signs

QUIZ: Warning signs

Can this be happening to me? This is a question many women ask themselves.

It can be difficult sometimes to let yourself believe you are being abused. It can be hard to admit you are being abused because the person hurting you doesn’t always act this way – sometimes they may be loving and kind.

It can be difficult to admit you are being abused because you love or depend on the person and maybe you are scared about what life will be like without them.

But if you often feel afraid of upsetting this person, and you change what you do to make sure they don’t get angry with you, then this is a sign that you are being abused.

Warning signs of abuse quiz

Are you feeling worried about your relationship but not sure if there is abuse involved? Take a few minutes to fill in the WARNING SIGNS QUIZ below.

Does your partner, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your friend, your carer, or a family member:

make you feel uncomfortable or afraid?

often put you down, make fun of you, or make you feel worthless?

always check up on what you’re doing or where you are going?

try to stop you from seeing your own friends or family?

make you feel that no one will believe you if you say you are unhappy?

stop you from having any money yourself or tell you what you can and can’t spend money on?

pressure, force or trick you into doing sexual things that you don’t want to do?

insist in always going in to see the doctor with you?

threaten you with losing your children?

threaten you that you will have no one to help you if you leave the relationship?

threaten you that will be placed in an residential accommodation service?

threaten to hurt you if you say you want to end the relationship?

have your children heard or seen these things or been hurt themselves?

If you have answered ‘yes’ to any of these, then there are signs that you are not being treated right, or that you are being abused. If you don’t feel safe, respected and cared for, then something isn’t right.

Remember, if you are being abused, it’s not your fault. Just because someone has treated you badly, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. They are the one who has done the wrong thing. You are not to blame for the abuse.

You have the right to feel safe and to live a life free from fear.

I know now, having been out of it for almost ten years that I was so accustomed to being abused that I just accepted it as being what I deserved.

The views or opinions expressed in websites linked to this site, or in articles not specifically written by the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria do not necessarily reflect the views of the organisation.